Oh My Dubai

I am going to Dubai. Thank You God.

It was great to see a familiar face as soon as I got to the airport. Not really familiar, I’d never met Mike before but after talking to him and others on our Travel Noire GroupMe chat, I was excited to know that him and his best friend Morgan would be taking the same flight as me and my best friend Myllz. We met up with a few others from our crew and were off on our 12-hour flight to Abu Dhabi.

There was a certain curiosity about this unknown country. The flight was long. After 9-hours I needed to stretch. The one great thing about Etihad is how much they feed you; at least 3-4 times en route, and the food is delicious. I was enamored by the beauty of the skies. We flew into 3 different time zones during our flight. It’s amazing how the world works. When we arrived it was Friday morning in Abu Dhabi. The sun shone bright in my window.

We walked out of the plane and I inhaled. That’s something I tend to do when I arrive to a new destination, I want to see if the air smells different (It didn’t). I proceeded to find customs and was surprised by how many men were in the airport. We were in the Middle East for sure. I was initially taken aback by the custom representatives. They were traditionally dressed in their Disdash’s. Their skin was beautifully tanned, and their smell was enticing. I didn’t make eye contact, only from afar. The rep handed back my passport, with a smirk.

Myllz and I proceeded to the parking lot where we awaited our ride with Mike and Morgan. They were also headed to Dubai and suggested that we join them. The morning sun was hot. I haven’t felt this heat in a long time. It was refreshing. We walked to our all-white range rover that would drive us to our destination. Almost everyone in Dubai and Abu Dhabi has beautiful new cars, so this was just a taste of what we would see during our week-long stay. We talked about the States and our travels around the world on our ride to Dubai, gradually stopping to take a pic if we noticed a unique structure in our view.

Approaching Dubai was breathtaking. There’s no doubt when you leave the midst of Abu Dhabi and enter the land of enchanting tall, pristine and glistening structures. The driver dropped Mike and Morgan off at their hotel and Myllz and I hitched a taxi to ours. When we approached Jumeirah Emirates Towers it was surreal. The bellboys rushed to our doors to let us out and grabbed our bags. From this point on there was no touching, or holding our bags, they had it all covered. Check-in was a breeze, I paid in full to avoid any mishaps later and was greeted with a hot towel and a delicious cold beverage, accompanied by a purple lily. We went up to our room and the first thing I noticed was the view, a beautiful view of Downtown Dubai. To be honest I wanted to sleep and asked Myllz if I could take a quick nap to be rejuvenated for the rest of our day.